Airspace & Range Lead

Job Description

Job Description

Icarus was founded on the belief that the Stratosphere is the Forgotten Frontier and that reclaiming it will define the next era of aerospace and what is possible from the sky. We build solar-powered aircraft that fly at 60,000 ft for weeks at a time, delivering persistent, affordable, and scalable presence from this layer of the atmosphere.

The Flight Operations Generalist is the person who takes our aircraft from the hangar to the sky and back. You set up the test site, prepare the aircraft, run preflight, operate it in flight, and troubleshoot whatever comes up, all under the direction of our engineers. When Icarus goes to the field, you are the center of the operation.

Mission

Re-establish and maintain dominance in the Stratosphere.

What you'll do

Find the airspace

• Scout and evaluate test ranges, restricted areas, MOAs, and launch and recovery sites that fit the aircraft's flight profile, from the ground to the stratosphere

• Build working relationships with DoW ranges, range safety offices, FAA facilities and ARTCCs, and airport operators

• Map the regulatory path for every new location and flight profile, and know what it will take and how long

Get us approved

• Own FAA and DoW flight authorizations end to end: Certificates of Waiver or Authorization, Airworthiness Releases, waivers, exemptions, letters of agreement, altitude reservations, and range-specific approvals

• Turn engineering material (aircraft performance, C2 link and lost-link behavior, flight termination, airworthiness and safety data) into complete, defensible application packages

• Work directly with the FAA, range safety, and military airspace authorities to answer questions, close gaps, and get to yes

• Be the connective tissue between engineering, flight ops, and regulators, so nothing goes to a regulator that engineering can't back up

Schedule the sky

• Book range space and airspace in line with the company build and flight schedule, and replan fast when the schedule moves

• Drive NOTAMs, range briefings, and pre-mission coordination so every flight day starts fully approved

• Track every active authorization, its conditions, and its expiration, and make sure the flight crew operates inside it

Exercises and operational employment

• Support exercise planning at high-profile multinational military exercises, from airspace requests to getting the aircraft into the exercise air plan

• Work alongside military planners, airspace control authorities, and allied partners to integrate an unmanned, high-altitude aircraft into crowded military airspace

• Spearhead compliance as the aircraft transitions to operational employment in active conflict areas, and build the process for theater airspace integration and military flight clearances

Document and improve

• Build the playbook: templates, checklists, and a library of approved packages that make every new approval faster than the last

• Capture lessons from every range, regulator, and exercise and feed them back to engineering and flight ops

What we're looking for

• 4+ years of hands-on experience in airspace management, UAS flight operations, range operations, or aviation regulatory compliance, including equivalent military experience as an air traffic controller, airspace manager, JTAC, Combat Controller, or UAS operator

• Working knowledge of the National Airspace System, airspace classes, special use and restricted airspace, and how the FAA authorizes unmanned aircraft beyond Part 107 (COAs, waivers, exemptions)

• Track record of building authorization or approval packages from technical material and getting them approved

• Understanding of military airspace, range scheduling, and exercise planning, including airspace control measures and the air tasking cycle

• Ability to read engineering data and ask the right questions of the engineers who wrote it

• Ability to run multiple ranges, regulators, and timelines against a moving flight schedule without dropping anything

• U.S. person, eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret security clearance

• Willingness to travel frequently to test ranges and exercise locations

• Strong communicator, non-negotiable

• High trust, extreme ownership, no ego

Bonus

• FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate or a manned pilot certificate

• Experience with high-altitude, long-endurance, or balloon flight operations, including altitude reservations and operations in Class A airspace and above

• Planning experience at major multinational exercises (RIMPAC, Talisman Sabre, Balikatan, or similar) or time in an air operations center or airspace control cell

• Deployed experience integrating UAS into theater airspace

• Active Secret or Top Secret clearance

• Prior aerospace startup or other hardware experience, time spent building while procedures are still being written

Why Icarus

1. Meaningful equity
2. Top market salary and bonuses
3. Health, dental, and vision insurance
4. Factory in El Segundo
5. Real ownership, real hardware, real flight
6. Small team, massive responsibility
7. High signal (engineering) to noise (management) culture
8. Dream desk setup
9. Daily lunch
10. Unlimited Celsius

This is not a normal compliance job

• We are pioneers, not corporate managers. Icarus deliberately optimizes for a high signal (engineers) to noise (management) ratio, where engineering, flight, and execution matter more than process, politics, or management overhead

• You will work side by side with flight crews and engineers, not behind a wall from them. You will own the airspace end to end. Find it. Package it. Get it approved. Book it. Fly in it. Then do it again at the next range, faster

• We expect full extreme ownership. This is a high-trust, no-BS team, and everyone pulls their weight, especially in the field

• We want operators, not bureaucrats. No paperwork for its own sake. No filing a package and waiting by the phone. No sitting in meetings all day. Just real approvals that put real aircraft in real airspace

• You must thrive under pressure, learn fast, and produce in the field. We move fast. We go to Mojave at 4 am in the morning. We expect results and an obsession with quality and speed

• You will be the person who opens the sky for Icarus. If you want to win the approval that puts our aircraft at 65,000 ft over a major exercise, and then into the hands of Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen, this is it.

No tourists. No bystanders. Only builders.

Hiring process

• Phone screen

• Airspace and range planning assessment

• Meet the flight and engineering team in-person

• Meet the CE

US salary range

$150,000- $185,000 USD

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are considered part of Icarus' total compensation package.

We're an equal opportunity employer. We welcome all applicants without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.